Muriel Jessup

JESSUP

MURIEL JESSUP "China"

Muriel "China' Jessup of Chevy Chase, Maryland, passed away on April 7, 2023 in her 100th year. China was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Raymond and Margaret Franceschina on July 13, 1923. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1944 with a degree in psychology, after which she moved to New York city where she took a job in the Look magazine photo department. It was there she met her future husband, Frederick Peterson Jessup, who had returned from service in the Navy. With Peter, who had joined the Foreign Service, she moved to Frankfurt, Germany.



Over the next 30 years with The State Department, the couple would be stationed in Switzerland, Washington, DC and Israel twice. In the Middle East, China studied archeology and participated in numerous excavations. During her second posting in Israel, China taught English to students at the Friends School in Ramallah on the West Bank.



Back in Washington she joined the newly formed Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, a bipartisan group of Congresswomen concerned with legislation about women and families. In addition to her work on the Hill, China was on the boards of the International Student House, Jubilee Jobs, and the Friends International Student Center in Ramallah. She was a 50-year member of the Bethesda Friends Meeting. She is survived by her four children, Alexandra Altman of East Calais Vermont, Francesca Jessup Arene of San Salvador, El Salvador, Kristin Moore of Arlington, Virginia, Theodore Jessup of Ancram, New York, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren. A private memorial service at a later date is planned. Donations In her memory can be made to Bethesda Friends Meeting, Bethesda, MD.